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Part 2 of our remote holiday episode! I love the stories and submissions we received in this half. Merry Christmas and happy New Years, friends, here's looking to 2021. Storytellers: Abby Ancell Carolyn Fasnacht Music: "When You Come Back Down" - K & M Triplett "Black Gold/The Night Santa Went Crazy" - Eric Garneau

"Gather Round" Part 1 of our remote holiday episode! 2020 has been a long, brutal year, and now, for better or worse, we mostly won't be getting together with our friends and families over the holiday season. Let our fine storytellers and musicians help with good thoughts for the months to come. Storytellers: Andrea Epplin Sandy Pensoneau-Conway Allison MacWilliams-Brooks Talavera Music: "The Day Before Thanksgiving" - Tony Baker and Ben Rathert "Crowded Table" - Eric Garneau and Megan Smith

An unexpected birthday present for me from Eric and the rest of the Cover Stories crew. Get ready for some of the best songs ever written (according to me)! The Playlist Includes: Summer Highland Falls Wait For It The City of New Orleans One Sweet Love Paintings By Chagall A Man/Me/Then Jim Tiny Dancer All These Things I Have Done I Will Follow You Into the Dark Plus fond memories of Your Stories past! Thank you to everyone who made this possible.

The second half of our quarantine episode as the COVID-19 quarantine continues. I'm so so grateful for all these great storytellers willing to share themselves for our show. Together we really can get through this weird time. If you can, take advantage of the weirdness. Maybe lay under your table or look up at clouds in the sky? We're all in this together, friends. Storytellers Summer Slevin - "The Slevin Family Egg Roll" Isaac Smith - "Remembering John Prine" Claire Hughes - "Look 'Em In the Nose" Felicia Dieguez - "Lessons In Loneliness" Music Kyle Triplett - "Someday We'll Meet Again Sweetheart" Tony Baker and Ben Rathert - "We'll Meet Again"

We had a live show scheduled for April but of course had to scrap it due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In our first non-live show we have stories from the wonderful Elizabeth Pfiester, Bethany Willeford, and Melanie Andrews and music from Ben Rathert and Tony Baker Storytellers: Elizabeth Pfiester - "Rilke Magic" Bethany Willeford - "The Story of How I Cope" Melanie Andrews - "I Am Enough" Music: "Ain't Got You" "Hold On"

Part 2 from January 11, 2020 at Brews Brothers! Thank you to everyone who came out for the show, it was a blast. Storytellers in this half: Crystal King - Bright Lights Ben Rathert - Harold Music: Small Town Saturday Night If I Wander Back Tonight See you in April!

Part 1 of our January show at Brews Brothers in Murphysboro, IL! What a wonderful night, and a big thank you to everyone who came out. We're already looking forward to April! Our Storytellers: Elaine Ramseyer - "7-Up and Slim Jims" Molly Howard-Crow - "SIUFO's" Joe Hercik - "Nature Always Wins" Music by the Cover Me Up Trio: "Tonight, Tonight" "Light Up My Room" "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning"

Part 2 of our inaugural show on Friday, October 11, 2019 at St. Nick's Brewery in Du Quoin, IL. In this half our storytellers delve into dialect, disparity, and planning ahead. Thank you so much for everyone who contributed and made the trip out, especially those from far-off lands. See you in January! Songs: Paradise (John Prine)- Cover Me Up Trio Don't Be Afraid to Run (Greg Graffin) - CMUT Sunset - Kyle Triplett Take Me Home Country Road (John Denver) - CMUT Storytellers: Kyle Triplett - Supper In the South Felicia Dieguez - Disparity In Retrospect Jeremy Kanne - Near Empty Tank, Half a World Away

NEW SPIN-OFF! Now at a lower latitude! Our first official episode of Your Stories South was recorded on Friday, October 11, 2019 at St. Nicholas Brewery in Du Quoin, IL.  This was an incredibly fun night and we had some great talents to help us set it off right.  Our theme was "South!" (please clap) in reference to life here on the southern end of Illinois.  There was a fair amount of room noise during the recording but our storytellers and musicians did excellent all the same. Our house band (The Cover Me Up Trio) is Tony Baker, Kyle Triplett, and Ben Rathert. Songs:Southern Cross (Crosby, Stills & Nash) - Cover Me Up TrioCity of New Orleans (Steve Goodman) - CMUTThe Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (The Band) - CMUTTake Me Down (Gary Clark, Jr.) - Crystal KingStorytellers:Trish Pfiefer - Southern ExposureAndrew Staff - Hiking Trails and Adjudicated YouthNicole Stewart - Chicken and Beer NightCrystal King - Dead Hippies Versus Phish Hippies  

It's the second half of our crossover with Lily Be's The Stoop, some of the most real storytelling you can get in Chicago. Plus we get some words from Crystal Dino about her brother Chris, one of the reasons we all got together for this night in the first place! This week, you'll enjoy: Cover Stories: Freedom at 21 Cover Stories: No Children Whitney Wasson: Hometown Pride Javier Suarez: Going Hunting Crystal Dino: About Chris JJ Ranvier: KitKatClub Cover Stories: Edge of Glory To support Chris, you can donate to his GoFundMe here. As I explain in the intro to this episode, we're going on a short hiatus again, but we have a lot of cool stuff coming before the end of Q3, so keep your eyes peeled on the feed!

The first part of our crossover with one of our favorite storytelling shows in Chicago, the Stoop! We bring together some of our favorite folks for an incredible evening of stories, songs, and hopefully doing a little good. This episode, we're featuring: Cover Stories - Little White Dove Cover Stories - Here Comes the Sun Brian Wille - Here and Gone Shani Smith - Who Dies at a Funeral? Lily Be - No Hay Mal Que Por Bien No Venga We'll talk a lot more about it next week, but make sure you check out the fundraiser for our friend Chris Dino. He's so close to his goal!

Once again, Your Stories is traveling south, to Ava, IL, for the second half of an evening of stories and songs curated and hosted by the incredible Benjamin Rathert! Make sure you listen til the end for a very exciting announcement about Your Stories shows to come... This week, enjoy: Eric: Made in England Trish Pfeiffer: Princesses Jon Lester: Capture the Flag Eric Garneau: The Shoulders of Giants Eric: One Step Up / I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

The one and only Ben Rathert, friend of the show, has once again this year put together a Your Stories show for the voices of Southern Illinois. Recorded downstate in Ava, this episode is a real treat! This week, you can enjoy: The Cover-Me-Up Trio: Long Time Gone The Cover-Me-Up Trio: Different Days Tony Baker: Shifting Identity Tricia Burns: World Wrestling Family Aimee White Williams: The Right Way, the Wrong Way, the Janeway Ben & Eric: Blue, Red and Grey If you're in Chicago, we're crossing over with one of our favorite storytelling shows, Lily Be's The Stoop, for an extra special get-together this Sunday!

Our multimonth dive into working continues with this first part of our look at management which, let's be real, most of us feel pretty strongly negative about. Will that play out in the episode? Who can say for sure! (But you may not be surprised) This week, enjoy: Cover Stories: Cryin' Shelby Mongan: Alone Foods Jenn Sodini: Marianne at Del's Cherry Darling: FMLA Carly Ballerini: Horrible Bosses Cover Stories: Vienna

This week, we dive yet again into the world of business-to-customer interactions as part of our multimonth series on the wonderful work of Chicago historian Studs Terkel! You can enjoy: Cover Stories: Right Now Cover Stories: You Get What You Give John Capaul: Stacy Smile Bill Nielsen: Customer Service Purgatory Jared Mason: Public Romantic Gestures Lily Be: No Conversation Cover Stories: Mad World

Our multi-part tribute to Studs Terkel and working begins here with this look at the user side of commerce. This week, enjoy: Cover Stories: 1, 2, 3, 4 Eric Garneau: How Much Math Do You Use in Your Job? Mykel Golliday: The Dark Souls of Driving Uber Ray Goldberg: "It's Not That Good, But It's Not That Bad" Jeremy Kanne: Picking Strawberries Cover Stories: Short Skirt, Long Jacket

Friend of the Nerds Bill Nielsen just launched a new podcast about his attempt to regain glory in the world of professional Magic: the Gathering, something Bill's talked about on Your Stories before. In fact, the first episode of his podcast even uses some of his prior Your Stories pieces to tell his story. The Nerds helped consult and edit Bill's show, so we felt like it would be cool to cross-post the first episode into our feed. Even if you don't know anything about Magic, you'll enjoy this story of sports(ish) glory. You can find future episodes of Bill's show over on the So Many Bits Facebook and Twitter feeds. Good stuff coming up!

An underfunded Wizards school, a recipe for the best Vegan chili you'll ever eat, and more will bring some joy to your life in the second part of our annual fanfiction celebration. This week, enjoy: Cover Stories: When You Were Young Cover Stories: Are You Gonna Be My Girl? Chris Crotwell: Default Logan Dean: Easy VEGAN Chili Drew Krehel: Brideshead Unlimited Maggie Wagner: The Alistair Q. Flotwickens Public School for Witchcraft & Wizardry Cover Stories: Welcome Home

Fanfiction February returns, and it's Chris and Shelby's first full go in the hosting hot seat! Of course, it turned out awesomely. This week, explore an accidentally '80s trip featuring: Cover Stories: Say It Ain't So Shelby Mongan: Real People Elliot Besmann: Slash Haven Ruby Des Jardins: Truly Outrageous Cover Stories: Maps

This is it! Chris and Shelby's look into their favorite episodes of Your Stories past ends here with this throwback to June 2014! We recorded this episode with some of the fine folks of the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (or CAKE for short), which is still an awesome thing you should support. ALSO, Chris and Shelby's first full show as hosts is the ever-popular Fanfiction February this Sunday at the Cards Against Humanity Theatre. Don't miss it! In the mean time, this episode, you can enjoy once again: Cover Stories: High Enough Steve Persch (with Mary Beth Smith): First Sketch Kevin Budnik: Boy/Girl party Natasha Samreny: Trip Grace Tran: A Comics Fellowship Cover Stories: Handle with Care